Relief, joy, hip hip hooray. A charity close to my heart has managed to persuade a council from making funding cuts so deep that it would probably go under. I mention no names, but suffice to say I jumped around my kitchen for joy when I knew our hard work had paid off.

The only thing harder than raising funds for a charity is defending it from cuts.

Another worthy cause fights to see another day. Another reason that I love my work.

We hear a fair bit about social investment - using investment capital to generate social as well as financial returns. There are lots of big players and I'm increasingly seeing marketing headlines like "Are You Looking for Social Investment?".

I don't know.

Am I?

Are we?!

So I've found myself feeling mildly annoyed by all this, as if charities and social enterprises are somehow being pushed credit card offers that they don't need or can't pay back.

Then I met the gang from Resonance Ltd. They help social enterprises gain investment, and set up innovative new funds that can address social needs in a financially sustainable way. What hit me was that they are all about impact, all about finding problems where social investment can be a part of the solution.

And that got me. They see social investment as being entirely impact-led not investment driven. They start with the social enterprises and enterprising charities, not with the large pot that has to be "deployed" to an organisation which has been willing to jump through their 'investment readiness' hoops.

So I'm not looking for social investment but if you are then head over to Resonance. If nothing else they will be incredibly helpful and probably give you cake.

Over the last few months Somerville Youth & Play Provision has re-opened its brand new doors to children and young people in and around New Cross. At last, the dilapidated old building has been replaced with a fantastic facility, fit for purpose for the whole community.

It's great to see it filled with young people after school, and now it is also available to hire during school hours and on Sundays, and on Saturdays in the school holidays. What a fantastic place for meetings, toddler groups, exercise classes, not to mention parties and family friendly get-togethers. All proceeds from the hire of the facility go back into the programme to support local children and young people.

I enjoy working at a senior level when clarity is needed around the direction and priorities of an organisation.

This has included facilitating several sessions with the Trustees of Surrey Docks Farm during a time of funding uncertainty. Having decided on their priorities and gained a sense of clarity and purpose, they have managed to become much more focused on their core work and are now fully self-sustaining. I just gave a helpful nudge in the right direction.

I continue to support the Trustees of the Peckham Settlement during a time of massive change for the organisation. Now as a Trustee myself, I am helping to establish a new Executive Committee and define the objectives of the organisation as a grant giver, in line with the objectives of the Settlement that were established almost 120 years ago.

I have also provided 1:1 consultancy support to a number of Senior Managers to provide advice around staff restructures, performance management and redundancies. I act as an independent, external sounding board who helps overcome thorny issues that can be time consuming and difficult. These can be the real struggles of management, but they don't last forever!

I'm not generally a fan of the National Lottery and I've never spent a single one of my Good English Pounds on it. It sells us the empty promise that our dreams will come true and makes people live life based on "when I win the Lottery..."

Yet, I am a massive fan of what's done with the money that is channelled in to the BIG Lottery Reaching Communities Funds. It is brilliant.

It has put in over half a million pounds for Somerville's new building to host youth services for children and young people in New Cross. This money allows a community run organisation to replace a cold (I mean COLD) and dilapidated building with something economical and fit for purpose. They put in £25k for 'development funding' to cover the up-front costs of architects designs and surveys so that the organisation wouldn't be out of pocket if the project didn't go ahead.

They have funded 5 years of contributions to salaries for Youth Workers to run activities in the new building. Many funders offer grants for 1 or 2 years, or 3 if you're really lucky. And they are usually for silly amounts like £10k which obviously doesn't cover a full time salary.

But what has made me really love them is the fact that they also offer up to £15k in 'Building Capabilities' funding alongside the main grant. Organisations can spend the money to build their capabilities as they see fit; I'm helping Somerville to establish a proper online system for data monitoring, reporting and impact assessment which is immensely important for satisfying current and future funders. They will also be able to access training and resources which will directly help them to be even better at what they do on the frontline. Without this funding, there simply isn't the money available to do these things.

The Big Lottery Reaching Communities Funds don't give away their money lightly - the application process is gruelling and they really make sure you're meeting an acute local need. But man is it worth it.

So does the Lottery make a difference to peoples' lives? Well, the players continue to hold onto vain hope of receiving a fortune, but yipeee dooo the community organisations' dreams have come true!

Since 2012 I have worked with the wonderful Somerville Youth & Play Provision in New Cross, helping them to formulate a new business plan in order to construct a new building and grow their staff team to deliver more youth services locally.

I have led the fundraising project and brought in over £750k capital from the BIG Lottery and other funders, and to date almost £500k to fund Youth Worker posts for up to 5 years.

Alongside the business plan I have undertaken an evaluation of their services, supported the 5 year budgeting process and undertaken surveys with the children and young people. My ongoing work includes establishing the monitoring and reporting processes for funders and developing a fundraising strategy going forwards.

The new building is being constructed at the moment, due for completion in early 2016.

In 2013 I started working with the inspirational children’s charity Tree of Hope to set up the website and operations for their new online retail offer (blossomforchildren.co.uk), selling ‘funky stuff for children with needs’.

This was a fun and challenging project which involved business planning, product and competitor research and setup of warehousing and fulfilment services, and close liaison with web designers to build the website.

Having set it up I handed over the ongoing management to the staff team, though I am periodically involved in doing performance reviews for the business and sourcing new product lines.

The website business arm has successfully grown over the last 2 years and is achieving good sales targets, and has hugely increased the profile of the charity.

The site has almost 500,000 hits per year and is considered the ‘go to’ site for children with special needs, selling fun colourful products instead of the mainstream dull NHS grey items.